Cutting The Nets Down.....

I really couldnt think of title for this celebratory article that really captured my true emotion and feeling for the win (which is why I had to wait until Sunday morning for it). I thinkered back and forth between what I stuck with (still not overly-satisfied), "Dancing!", and some version of "Albany wins!", "Great Danes!", etc.....all garbage newspaper stuff. But, what can I say? They won yesterday. The lowly Albany Great Danes, the team that triumphed over 5-win seasons and the EJ Gallup debacle, the team that couldn't draw 500 people 2 years ago....that same team is now in the greatest tournament of them all, the Big Dance, the NCAA Tournament, where anything can happen (sorry, went a little overboard there).
The game lived up to everything I thought it would. The crowd was insanely wild, Vermont came out VERY tight, and Albany buried them. A 3 for Lucious Jordan and one for Brent Wilson to open the game, and the Catamounts were already looking to next year. Soon that 6-0 start became 18-4, and it was over. I dont think the lead ever got below 10 the rest of the game. If you didn't know it was over before this, Jamar Wilson's three at the end of the first half was the end of line for the Catamounts. 44-26 at the half, game well in hand.
The second half was much of the same. The Danes went into cruise control, actually being outscored by Vermont, 41-36. But, much of that was in garbage time, when Brown emptied the bench. Final score, 80-67. Jamar kicked ass in the game, proving to everyone why he's the America East POY. Donny Marshall, doing the game for ESPN2, even claimed he was "the best player in American nobody's heard of." Is he correct? Maybe.....but I do like the statement.

So, a little breakdown and some links. Jamar was amazing. 29 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, only 1 turnover....and 8-8 from the line. That impressed me all game on a team level, was the free thrown percentage. Always a good FT team (71%), this continued yesterday, going 13-15 from the line. Overall, there wasnt much that they couldnt do...outrebounded Vermont 37-27, shot much better (49% to 39%), and the 3-pt % was the dagger....the Danes shot an amazing 9-16 (56%) from beyond the arc, compared to 4-19 (21%) for the Catamounts. The surprise of the game, for me, was Lucious Jordan. 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists.....and came out as fired up as I've seen him. Even though he's a Colonie High grad, congrats.

Nice coverage by the Times Union today, offering a cover story, a commentary by Brian Ettkin, and a good article by Mark Singelais, the usual Danes writer (and who should have gotten the main story. Mostly good stuff, save Ettkin's column, who did his usual overly-dramatic spin on the game, and on a team that he usually ignores. There's also a link on the main page to a nice photo collection, but its a Java-link, and I don't know how to link to it...
ESPN and Yahoo both used the same AP story, so I'll only give the ESPN link, here (ESPN has a good box score and play by play, plus a brief video.
Also, here is the link to the Burlington Free Press, the local paper for the Catamounts. Being one of the youngest teams in Division I, they have nothing to be ashamed about. With a year of growth, combined with the experience of playing in the conference championship, they will be a force next year. Congrats, Vermont.